ANTALYA - Number of tourists visiting southern Antalya province increased by 38 percent in the first week of December 2003 when compared with the same period of December 2002.
Officials of Tourism and Culture Provincial Directorate told A.A correspondent on Monday that 4 million 762 thousand 82 tourists visited Antalya since the beginning of this year.
Five thousand 584 tourists came to Antalya by planes on Sunday. A total of 28 thousand 774 tourists visited this city in the first week of December 2003.
Twenty thousand 862 tourists had visited Antalya in the same week of December 2002 while this number was 15 thousand 248 in the same period of 2001.
RUSSIA'S CONSULATE OPENED IN ANTALYA
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Razov said on Monday that Russian public opinion was shaken by bombings in Istanbul and stated that they had cooperation against international terrorism with Turkey.
Razov who attended the opening ceremony of Russian Consulate in southern Antalya province said that Turkey and Russia had relations rooted in history and those relations would be further improved.
Stating that their ties with Turkey were developing, he said that Turkey and Russia recorded progress in Blue Stream Natural Gas project. Razov said that the two countries completed talks on this project.
Razov offered his condolences to Turkish Republic and relatives of people who died in attacks in Istanbul and stated that the two countries should further improve their cooperation.
Razov said that Turkey and Russia would further improve their relations in tourism sector and noted that more than 1 million Russian tourists came to Antalya to spend their holiday every year. He noted that the number of Russian tourists who visited Antalya would increase and added that's why they opened consulate in Antalya. Razov said that they would help Russian people who came to this city and noted that they would also give visa to Turkish citizens who wanted to go to Russia in their consulate in Antalya.
(EÖ-Öª-BRC-AÖ) 08.12.2003